Baseball

Royals Finish 1-3 in First World Series Appearance; Ends Season Nationally Ranked #7

May 26, 2017

Ecclesia College Baseball (33-23) went 1-3 in pool play action in their first ever appearance in NCCAA World Series held in Cincinnati, Ohio May 24-27 at the beautiful Prasco Stadium.

Participation in the World Series was the Royals first appearance since the program's inaugural season five years ago. Head coach Derrion Hardie was hired to lead the development of the baseball program, which had its inaugural season in 2013. Coach Hardie has successfully directed the program to five consecutive winning seasons and post-season berths. The Royals were just one game from an automatic berth to the World Series in the program's first year, but they lost in the Central Region Championship Game 5-1 to NCAA DII Oklahoma Christian University. The Royals have won 140 games in the program's first five seasons.

Evidence of the strength of the Royals' pool can be seen with Oklahoma Baptist University and Campbellsville University advancing from the Royals' pool to the semi finals and proceeding to meet each other in the National Championship game. Oklahoma Baptist defeated Campbellsville University 7-6 on walk off in the tenth inning.

Below is recap of each World Series games and the final Top 10 National Rankings.

2017 World SeriesPool A Game 1Vs. #5 Seed Campbellsville UniversityCampbellsville University Captures Lead Early to Defeat Ecclesia College Royals

Ecclesia College fell behind early and couldn't come back in an 8-2 loss to Campbellsville University on Wednesday. Campbellsville University scored on a home run by Montoya and a grand slam by Carbuccia in the second inning.

Broadbent earned the win for Campbellsville University. He went two innings, giving up one run, one hit, striking out three, and walking zero. #31 threw five innings, as three relievers helped Campbellsville finish off the victory. Madison Bates took the loss for Ecclesia College. He pitched two innings, surrendering seven runs, five hits, and striking out two.

Home runs for Campbellsville came when Carbuccia homered in the second inning and Montoya homered in the second inning.

JT Stalnaker and Robbie Rodriguez each drove in one run to lead Ecclesia College.

Campbellsville collected eight hits. Carbuccia and #2 each collected multiple hits for Campbellsville. Campbellsville didn't commit a single error in the field. Montoya had eight chances in the field, the most on the team.

2017 World SeriesPool A Game 2Vs. #1 Seed Oklahoma Baptist UniversityEcclesia College Royals Can't Hold Up Against Oklahoma Baptist University

Ecclesia College couldn't keep up with Oklahoma Baptist University and fell 15-3 on Thursday.

Ecclesia College captured the lead in the first inning. Trevor Caldwell drove in two when he singled in the first inning.

In the bottom of the second inning, Oklahoma Baptist University tied things up at two. Oklahoma Baptist scored one run when Moran singled with one out in the second inning.

Oklahoma Baptist took the lead for good with five runs in the third inning. In the third there was an error, scoring two runs and Burnham homered off of Justice Jones, driving in three runs.

Oklahoma Baptist scored six runs in the fourth inning. The big inning for Oklahoma Baptist came thanks to a single by Gelphman, a single by Gonzalez, and a grand slam by Burnham.

Merkel earned the win for Oklahoma Baptist. He tossed six innings, giving up two runs, five hits, and striking out three. Jones took the loss for Ecclesia College. He pitched three innings, giving up 12 runs, and 11 hits.

Caldwell went 1-for-3 at the plate as he led the team with two runs batted in.

2017 World SeriesPool A Game 3Vs. #8 Seed Bluefield CollegeEcclesia College Royals Loses Lead Early in Defeat

Ecclesia College watched the game slip away early and couldn't recover in a 7-4 loss to Bluefield College on Thursday. Bluefield College scored on an error, a single by Brounins, and a single by Smith in the second inning.

Ecclesia College lost despite out-hitting Bluefield College ten to nine.

Ecclesia took an early lead in the first inning. Cameron Dougherty singled on a 2-1 count in the first inning, scoring one run.

Bluefield College took the lead for good with three runs in the second inning. In the second there was an error, scoring one run, Brounins singled off of Mason Alexander, driving in one run, and Smith singled off of Alexander, driving in one run.

Ecclesia scored three runs in the ninth inning. Ecclesia scored on a single by Matt Garrison and a single by Dougherty.

#23 earned the win for Bluefield College. He pitched one and one-third innings, allowing three runs, four hits, striking out one, and walking zero. Alexander took the loss for Ecclesia. He went seven innings, giving up seven runs, nine hits, and striking out four.

Haas started the game for Bluefield. He went seven and two-thirds innings, surrendering one run, six hits, and striking out six.

Ecclesia had ten hits in the game. Dougherty, Garrison, JT Stalnaker, and Stevie Morphew each collected multiple hits for Ecclesia.

Morphew, Stalnaker, Garrison, and Dougherty each managed two hits to lead Ecclesia.

Bluefield didn't commit a single error in the field. Perez had the most chances in the field with nine.

World SeriesPool A Game 4Vs. #4 Seed Alice Lloyd CollegeEcclesia College Royals Jumps Out to Early Lead in Victory Over Alice Lloyd College

Ecclesia College grabbed an early lead on its way to a 9-3 victory over Alice Lloyd College on Friday. Ecclesia College scored on a single by Stevie Morphew in the first inning, a error in the first inning, a single by Trevor Caldwell in the first inning, and a groundout by Cameron Dougherty in the second inning.

Ecclesia College took an early lead in the first inning. With one out in the first inning Stevie Morphew drove in one run when he singled.

Ecclesia scored three runs in the sixth inning. The big inning was thanks to a fielder's choice by Zach Vincent and a groundout.

Jacob Martinez earned the win for Ecclesia. He went seven and a third innings, allowing three runs, six hits, striking out eight, and walking zero. Two relievers helped Ecclesia College Royals Varsity close out the victory. Jay-Ryan Woods threw one and one-third innings. Price took the loss for Alice Lloyd College. He tossed six innings, allowing seven runs, eight hits, striking out one, and walking one.

Ecclesia College had 11 hits in the game. Joey Dawes, Vincent, and Trevor Caldwell each collected multiple hits for Ecclesia. Caldwell led Ecclesia with two runs batted in. He went 2-for-4 on the day.

FINAL POST-SEASON TOP 10 NATIONAL RANKINGS

Greenville, SC: The NCCAA announces Top 10 Rankings for the week of May 29 for Baseball. Congratulations to these teams. To see previous rankings for 2016-17, visit www.thenccaa.org/top10.

Ranking Process: The NCCAA Top 10 Rankings are developed by the National Sport Chair and Regional Sport Chairs who represent each region. Regional Sport Chairs develop a ranking for their region. Based on each regional ranking, Regional Sport Chairs then rank teams on a national level. The National Sport Chair then compiles the national ranking based on points from each team’s ranking on the Regional Sport Chairs’ national ballots.